HOME DEPARTMENT

Fingerprinting (Asylum Applicants)

Des Browne: I have today made an authorisation under section 19D of the Race Relations Act 1976 as amended which enables the Home Office to continue to implement measures targeting the top five nationalities in terms of third country/Dublin cases for additional examination on the grounds of nationality. This follows an authorisation made by my predecessor my right hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Beverley Hughes) on 24 February 2004 which enabled the Home Office to initiate these measures.
	These authorisations enable my officials to compare the fingerprints of asylum seekers of these five nationalities against other Governments' fingerprint databases of asylum seekers, failed asylum seekers and those granted some form of leave to remain.
	They also allow my officials to compare the details of asylum seekers from the five prioritised nationalities with the details of individuals originally from those countries but now holding a form of immigration status elsewhere who have been granted a visa to travel to the UK.
	The purpose of these measures is to enable my officials to identify individuals who have claimed asylum, are failed asylum seekers or absconders, or enjoy some form of status in another country who subsequently claim asylum in the UK.
	I have decided to continue these measures to allow further time to gather evidence to test our assumptions that significant numbers of asylum applicants from these five nationalities are entering the country on legitimate EU and other western countries' documents and subsequently claiming asylum as a refugee, and to acquire further information on this abuse in order to inform future Home Office policy. I have also decided to make this authorisation continuous, and I will review the operation of it at three monthly intervals to consider the implementation and outcome of the measures and the top five nationalities targeted.
	Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Somalia and Sudan were the top five nationalities subject to third country/Dublin action in the last six months of 2003. These nationalities remain the top five over the previous six months from October 2003—March 2004. This means that other EU member states are properly responsible to consider the asylum claim of the individuals concerned.
	Any individuals identified under these processes may be returned to the safe third country identified as responsible for them under existing immigration law.

Immigration

Des Browne: I have today made an authorisation under section 19D of the Race Relations Act 1976, as amended, which will enable immigration officers to prioritise the examination of passengers of Somali national origin. For a period of three months this will allow such people to be examined more rigorously than would otherwise be the case.
	The purpose of this measure is to enable the immigration service to obtain information on the number and profiles of Somali-born passengers entering the UK. The aim is to establish how many of in-country asylum applicants claiming to be a Somali, apparently without documentation, enter the UK.
	This authorisation extends one that was made by my predecessor as Minister for Immigration on 24 February this year.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Legal Aid

David Lammy: The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs has issued a direction that brings cases related to the running of a business, and brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, into the scope of legal aid. The standard criteria for receiving legal aid, as set out by the Access to Justice Act 1999, will still have to be met. The full text of the direction has been placed in the Library of the House.